Deuteronomy 6:18 (DRB)

Passage

And do that which is pleasing and good in the sight of the Lord, that it may be well with thee: and going in thou mayst possess the goodly land, concerning which the Lord swore to thy fathers,

Nearby Context

Deuteronomy 6:16 Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God, as thou temptedst him in the place of temptation.

Deuteronomy 6:17 Keep the precepts of the Lord thy God, and the testimonies and ceremonies which he hath commanded thee.

Deuteronomy 6:18 And do that which is pleasing and good in the sight of the Lord, that it may be well with thee: and going in thou mayst possess the goodly land, concerning which the Lord swore to thy fathers,

Deuteronomy 6:19 That he would destroy all thy enemies before thee, as he hath spoken.

Deuteronomy 6:20 And when thy son shall ask thee to morrow, saying: What mean these testimonies, and ceremonies and judgments, which the Lord our God hath commanded us?

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "pleasing", "good", "sight", "lord", "well", "thee", "going", and "thou". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "pleasing" and "good", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 17's "Keep the precepts of the Lord thy..." into verse 19's "That he would destroy all thy enemies...", so "pleasing" and "good" belong inside that flow. In Deuteronomy context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "pleasing" and "good" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.